Spend more on culture

Re: Windsorites tops in police staffing, fire injuries, whining, by Doug Schmidt, Oct. 19.

The Ontario Municipal Benchmark Initiative is a partnership of 16 municipalities collecting data on 37 municipal services to identify better practices to improve service delivery.

The 2011 OMBI report shows that Windsor goes “cheap on culture,” according to Schmidt.

Windsor spent $8.11 per capita on cultural operating costs which was less than half of the OMBI median of $18.45. Windsor’s dismal standing among their partnership municipalities doesn’t surprise me.

From my experience living in and extensive travelling to other communities that invest in local artists, culture and heritage, are made up of people whose traits make them very similar to one another.

These people have a history of exposure to culture, are generally well educated and well travelled. They have a lifelong curiosity in culture so there is a desire to keep that feeling alive — so, they expect and demand quality cultural services.

Leaders in successful cities know cultural services enrich the quality of life there, encourage business investment, promote innovation and creativity, and reduce “brain drain” and youth out-migration.

Windsor has taken some steps forward in providing better cultural services. A cultural master plan for the city was written and a manager of cultural affairs was hired.

Discussions to strengthen relationships between cultural organizations have occurred but progress on the plan has been far too slow for my mind.

Why can St. John’s, Nfld., Windsor’s population equal, offer so much more in cultural services? Part of the answer is that people there seek it out and expect it.

It’s time to pick up the pace here. I’d start by doubling Windsor’s per capita operating costs in cultural services. It would still be less the median expenditure of the OMBI membership.

JIM MROCZKOWSKI, Windsor